I'm currently looking for jobs in the united states teaching esl. I'm a British citizen with a BA and a 120hour tefl course. Furthermore I also have a years experience working in Korea teaching various ages.

My question is "what are the requirements for working in a place like NYC"

It would be impossible to find an employer to sponsor a visa for a UK citizen, when there are literally thousands of qualified US citizens available to do the job.

It's exactly the same in reverse - lots of Americans would like to teach English in the UK, but no-one will sponsor a visa for them, because there are so many qualified English language teachers already there!

Ditto (I'm from the US and have lived and worked in Canada, so am familiar with both job markets).

Many highly qualified native speakers around; it's difficult enough for a Canadian with qualifications similar to yours to find any job to make ends meet. No school will sponsor a visa - there are simply a lot of teachers around already.

I have MA TESL/TEFL, CELTA equivalent, and nearly 15 years of experience, and no Canadian school would sponsor a visa for me. I got in on a spousal visa - my spouse is in a high-demand field.

Find a profession you qualify for on the listd, document it and pay the fees. Teaching isn't usually one of the professions in demand, but after you receive the visa, you are not limited to that type of work. Once you have a resident's visa, you can do a job search in any field.

My advice is don't come to NYC looking for a job as an EFL Teacher. If you do come you may not make enough money to survive....and may end up on the streets homeless. This is no joke....and NYC is NOT a place you want to be homeless in!!!!!!!!!

ESL in NYC public schools is a bit of a war zone. The union and administration have a tolerant marriage at best, and in some schools tensions mount and so does backstabbing. ESL teachers are given a lot of paperwork responsibilities here and waste a lot of time with "compliance" paperwork. Most entry level jobs are in high needs school - so you may very well start in a low income school with the majority of students special needs ELLs. Tenure is very hard and stressful to get, and I found after I got it I got burnt out from 2 school administrators who were literally on a witch-hunt to get rid of teachers they deemed deficient. After I won the battle with union intervention, I was burnt out after 4.5 years and quit and moved to Japan. The average teacher stays in NYC public schools no more than 5 years. But, if you have a thick skin and you're the kind of person that doesn't let things get to you - you may survive... but...

My advice is don't teach EFL in NYC schools...the students and administration will make your life miserable....and forget the pay....there is no money here for EFL teachers. Again many EFL teachers end up homeless here as they can't afford their rent. Only come here if you have enough savings to live on. Good luck!

My advice is don't teach EFL in NYC schools...the students and administration will make your life miserable....and forget the pay....there is no money here for EFL teachers. Again many EFL teachers end up homeless here as they can't afford their rent. Only come here if you have enough savings to live on. Good luck!

The chances of you finding a job as an EFL teacher are really zero, because English, in the United States anyways, is generally not taught as a foreign language.

Canada isn't going to be interested in hiring ESL teachers from the UK. Citizen MA TESOL graduates are running to Korea because they can't get a job here.

If the OP can speak fluent French then perhaps applying directly to Quebec immigration will offer an opportunity but don't get your hopes up on Canada. Unless you are young and qualify for an exchange?

With whose qualifications? Mine? (related MA + 14 years experience)
I wouldn't get into Canada with this; as santi says the country is overrun with Canadians who have equivalent quals to mine.
Theoretically you claim a school could hire me; I've never looked into it because I know that in practice no school would ever bother, unless maybe it was one in some tremendously undesirable location.

Anyway, I have a green card for Canada thanks to my spouse's job, so I can work/live there if/when I want. I am elsewhere this year.

The OP is from the UK, not the NAFTA region, has only a BA and a 120 hour certificate.